Trust, power, and vulnerability: a discourse on helping in nursing

Area of Science:

• Nursing Ethics
• Philosophy of Healthcare
• Trust Studies

Background:

• The nurse-patient relationship is centered on the concept of helping.
• Trust is an essential, yet complex, component of this relationship.
• Existing literature offers various theoretical accounts of trust.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the philosophical underpinnings of trust in nursing.
• To define the moral significance of trust in the helping role.
• To identify factors that foster or impede trust in healthcare settings.

Main Methods:

• Philosophical inquiry and analysis.
• Literature review across multiple disciplines.
• Examination of theoretical frameworks of trust.

Main Results:

• Helping is identified as the moral center of the nurse-patient dyad.
• Patient expectations of care create nurse obligations of trustworthiness.
• Trust is characterized as a confident expectation of good will and beneficial action.

Conclusions:

• Trust is the foundational moral element in all helping relationships.
• Trust is more basic than other ethical principles like beneficence or autonomy.
• Nurses can enhance patient care by understanding and cultivating trust.